Weekend Art Sale in aid of the UK Research Trip

Its been a busy week in the studio... finding things, finishing off work, emailing things out, putting together collaged works using earlier work on paper.

Invention and reinvention.

When playing piano years ago I used to be taken with the title of things... loved Bach but then loved Debussy too. 'Variations on a theme' ... those titles quite appealed to me. I liked that naming of 'what is' ... instead of something fanciful I could see what was going on and why the name.

Here area few variations on a theme...

This one below has been hanging around my studio for a few years... the linen perfectly suited the fabric collaged on... one piece of Italian Seersucker from pants I sewed with this material I adored. I couldn't part with the fabric... so had to use it here. Selvedge... love that... and the raw edge... it was waiting to be completed ... finally i worked out what was required.

Below is a work that i did in 2002-3... it felt a little lonely when I did it... didn't quite fit with most of my other work at the time... curiously it makes huge sense now as a forerunner of my seed and pod works... also the infinity symbol... this one is totmeic for me..I dont think I could part with it!

These four works are 40 cm x 40 cm square... and all are, in part, collaged with paper or fabric... This approach of doing a lot of work on paper in long sessions over several days always serves me well... a lot gets produced. Much of it feels too raw and unseemly at the time.... BUT later... thats different!

Above: The one on the right below features a fabric layer with raised line drawing of the pod.

The thing I love about the variations is that they provide ample chance to play with compositions, colour and painterly approach.

Its exciting to not feel bound to any one way or look... probably why I try and do a lot of work like this from time to time.

30x 40 cm

These squares are 30 cm x 30 cm... except for the middle one on the left which is 20 x 20 cm. There's really too much happening here to assemble these together... but its practical for this purpose.

These panels are 20 x 60 cm...

This one below is rather intense ...the work on paper is from 2007 and its kicked around my studio ever since waiting for me to work with it. The paper underneath is a red brown colour and then there's a little copper paint as well. I did a lot of knitting in 2000 after my house fire... There was no real flow in my work at the time...i was studying a few painting subjects at art school and trying lots out... but somehow I wasnt in any rhythm that spoke to me.

Knitting helped!

I was growing woollen paintings from my needles and then a while later i felt compelled to make paintings from that gesture of the knitting! I find it curious sometimes how the mind and the body both try and find a common impulse.

Then out of the blue is this oval below which I was working on last year ...then came to a stand still. It featured seed capsules from rainforest pants... cross sections of the capsules to be precise. yet in this and another one the pods kept busting into flower... as they do! It was most unsettling ... so I got it out last night and had another lash and it seemed ok...

So its been a very pleasant time working on these things for a week ... seeing what comes. Thinking time... meditational for sure. The most expansive pursuit in the midst of other busy-ness.

If you've read the flyer I did for the Weekend Art Sale you'll have noticed the afternoon tea advertised. We are doing a special tea ( or coffee) with goodies for $10... both days from 2pm. Some poeple will pop in earlier in the day ....however ... afternoon tea has been popular.

These are the cups which have been donated to me to sell on the weekend!

I've had the most delightful collection of fine china tea cups donated by a family friend to use at the afternoon tea and sell

at the end of Sunday's gathering! Warmest thanks to Lyn Chan who chose to gift them to me for this special occasion as a

tribute to her late mother.

The garden has had good drenching rain over the past week ... and it need that! It would be wonderful now though to see the sun for the rest of the week so that our afternoon tea is served in the garden after all!

12 comments:

Love all the variations.... and I, too, have a thing for the infinity symbol - for me it represents the flow of energy, give and take from me back to the universe - breath, love, resources like money, etc. Its a powerful thing to work with, I think! Wish I could join you for afternoon tea, but, a bit extravagant for tea, me thinks!

What a great post! I love the seed pod pieces and how you've really explored them intensely! I love it when things are not so precisely depicted, but point to the thing and to many things beyond it. You've given me courage to really explore one thing intensely...the possibilities are endless! Thank you!

Sophie, you have one of the most interesting blogs on Blogger! I can't tell you how much I want to catch a plane and have a cuppa and a chat with you! And what can I say about your art other than I love it! How do I go about buying your book?

Hello lovely people.... thanks to all for stopping by with warm and encouraging comments.Would love to have your company one and all on the weekend...!

Valeriana ... interesting to think about the gesture contained in this symbol indeed. Trust you fared well in that awful hurricane the other day.

Marie-Es...sweet! Merci!

Patti ... like that wording... 'point to the thing and many things beyond it'. Yum!!! Cant ait to see what you do wth that one thing explored intensely!

Carole... such praise... too kind... but thank you! Dont let me forget to get back to you on the book... I owe a few people emails re this...and yes..I have books... will respond after this madly busy weekend on this score...delighted you're interested!

Robyn... love to have you with us this weekend... wishing you luck with those awful power shortages... and sincere thanks for earlier thoughts... back soon!

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Blogging for me is an extension of keeping a journal which I have done in various forms over the decades. The difference being this is not a closed book! I like that it offers an opportunity to explore that which concerns me as an artist and as an individual about living and participating in this vastly complex, unquestionably exciting yet unnerving time in human history.
Through the blog I hope to increase the possibilties for cross-pollination which I believe can strengthen the sense of being part of something both personal and universal that is vital, expansive and refreshing.